“And I offer you, after a war that we paid for on both sides, a universal war that caused real economic catastrophes in the world, after all the suffering and vicissitudes that you know, the finished works, was it possible or not? do them? Here it is".
With these words, Francisco Franco inaugurated the reservoir dedicated to his person, without complexes, that of the Generalissimo, in the Turia. It was May 28, 1952, and the frantic pace of the construction works that had allowed him to complete 32 reservoirs in just over a decade would take him barely two months later to inaugurate number 33, even more ambitious: the El Reservoir. Ebro, in Reinosa.
The ambitious plan to modify the main Spanish hydrographic basins, with successive extensions, caused 300 reservoirs to be built –and inaugurated– throughout the entire country between 1940 and 1967. All of this resulted, fundamentally, in the agricultural sector, but It also ended up trying to be decisive in boosting tourism, industry and hydroelectric generation.
The panacea represented by the swamps and, with them, the transfers, diversions and the construction of canals at a time of little environmental sensitivity led to the conversion of large areas of dry land into fruitful irrigated lands. Often at the cost of drying up historic basins or flooding towns.
This is how the Minister of Public Works, Jorge Vigón, promised in 1959 to turn the La Mancha drylands into an orchard after the inauguration of the Peñarroya reservoir, in Argamasilla de Alba, as we gather in his speech.
A mentality that, with greater or lesser intensity, was maintained until well into the 21st century, when the approval of the National Hydrological Plan and the citizen struggle put an end to the idea of transferring the Ebro to other Mediterranean basins or when it was discarded due to lack of political capacity. the transfer of the Rhone by the Generalitat de Catalunya.
"Dear and ingenious noblemen from La Mancha:
”I only came to put this relatively modest work into service and I meet with your warm welcome and your requests, in which you tell me that this is only the beginning. I already knew it. These lands will be capable of producing magnificent crops when well irrigated.
”I could tell you that you are going to have the construction of the canals and ditches that you want right away, but this is not true. I have had to inaugurate some works that have required long previous work.
”Right now we need to moderate our momentum a bit, not because the economy is bad, but because we want it to be even better. However, in the relatively near future we will achieve it.
”I believe that this is possible and that it will be done. Have faith and hope, because this is the work not of a moment, nor of a person, but of a regime. It is the work of our Caudillo, whose designs we fulfill by putting these plans into motion.
"The oldest, and I'm not saying the youngest, you have to see this land of yours flourishing and with thriving agriculture
"Let's shout, then, one more time: long live Franco! and long live Spain!
